The Fat Spot Reduction Myth

If I had a dollar for each person who told me they just needed to learn some moves to get rid of "this" as they point to whatever area bothers them the most, I would have a lot of dollars.  It's a common misconception that you can just work one area of your body and lose weight in that one specific area.  I've seen countless people who want to lose inches from their middle come into the gym, do some reps on some ab machines, then leave without doing anything else or changing their unhealthy eating habits then wonder why they aren't losing that belly fat. 

The human body is only capable of losing fat from the entire body as a whole.

No one specific exercise or piece of equipment or number of reps will allow you to burn fat from the exact spot you want to burn it from.

When you complete an exercise that targets a specific muscle group, like crunches for your abs, you are strengthening the muscles underneath the fat.  They are not eliminating the fat.  You can do hundreds of crunches but you'll never see that 6 pack unless you lose the inches that are covering them.  

This study demonstrated just that.  It found six weeks of abdominal exercise training alone was not sufficient to reduce abdominal subcutaneous fat and other measures of body composition.  

Have you ever heard the saying "Abs are Made in The Kitchen" or "You Can't Out Exercise a Bad Diet"?  There is some truth to them.

If you are looking to lose inches from any part of your body, you must work to lose weight by burning more calories than you take in.  Of course it is not quite that simple, you should also be conscious of how many calories you need each day so you know you are getting enough, what kind of calories you are taking in (healthy food!) as well as other factors that affect your weight loss (more sleep!  less stress!).  But on a very basic level, if you are eating well and have a calorie deficit each day you will lose weight.  It is based on your genetics as to where you lose weight first but it will happen if you work hard exercising and eating right.